NationStates Jolt Archive

Location: 75 miles west of Sevastopol

Out on the deck of the Nimitz-class supercarrier Iron Maiden, Ernest Halsey, Fleet Admiral of Wilhelmsborough's 1st Fleet, was standing looking out upon the open water. His ship was not alone. Along the starboard side of the considerably large aircraft carrier was the even larger Intrepid-class supercarrier, the Schadenfreude: Flagship of Armada One, and Admiral of the Navy Vittorio Augustine's personal ship.

And hundreds of feet off the Iron Maiden's port side, an old battleship, completely unmanned, sat in the water.

About one month ago, the Principality military purchased eight Dauntless-class Heavy Battleships from the Pudite Military Arms Storefront. The Principality was planning to send all of them to the 3rd Fleet, stationed in New Caledonia. However, these powerful ships weren't meant to be an addition. They were meant to be a replacement.

Among the ships of the 3rd Fleet were eight Battleships, all of the Ontario class. These ships were so old that they were no longer sold by Pudite, having replaced them with the modern Dauntless Heavy Battleships. The Wilhelmsborough Navy decided to decommission the Ontarios, and recalled the Battleships to the Black Sea. To save time and money, entire crews were simply transplanted from their Ontarios to the new Dauntlesses. As for naming the ships, the Navy transplanted the names as well, tacking the numeral II at the end of all of them.

Fleet Admiral Halsey watched as two Blackhawk helicopters took off from the deck of the Schadenfreude, and headed for the Iron Maiden.

The eight Dauntless Battleships had already set sail for New Caledonia, leaving behind the outdated Ontarios to take up space in Wilhelmsborough ports. As they had no military or historical value, the Navy prepared to sell the ships for scrap.

But at the last moment Prince William intervened. He felt that it would be a waste to simply scrap these perfectly good vessels. At the same time however, there was no point in turning these ships into museums or memorials. They had never seen any combat throughout their operating existence. Therefore, they had no historical importance.

But there was one thing that they were useful for. The scientists of the Abyss, Wilhelmsborough's secret weapons development facility, had come up with several new innovations, and they needed something to test them on.

These eight retired Battleships were perfect for the job.

There were two Ontario-class Battleships:

-Almaden
-Chicopee

There were also six Ontario Mk II Battleships, a slight update of the original model:

-Scorpius
-Mishnah
-Talmud
-Saros
-Brandenburg
-Manchuria

The two Blackhawks touched down on the runway. The Fleet Admiral stood at attention as his superior, Admiral of the Navy Vittorio Augustine, stepped out flanked by four Marines.

The Fleet Admiral walked over.

"Admiral Augustine," he saluted. "Welcome to the Iron Maiden."

Augustine saluted back. "Thank you Fleet Admiral. It's good to see you again."

"Likewise Admiral." He glanced at Augustine's armed escort. "I can assure you Admiral, that my ship is quite safe. Is an armed escort really necessary, sir?"

The Admiral of Wilhelmsborough's Navy laughed. "It's protocol, Halsey. Wherever I go, they must follow."

The two men exchanged laughter.

"Well then," said Augustine quickly getting down to business. "Is that the Manchuria sitting out there like an oversized boey?"

The Fleet Admiral nodded. "That's her all right. It's a shame that we have to do this, but I suppose they have no place in a modern navy. What is the goal of all this testing?"

"We're going to test the Pomornik LCACs that we had modified for close combat fighting. We're also going to test some new torpedoes and missiles that the Abyss has developed."

Halsey's eyes went wide in surprise. "The Abyss is responsible for this?" he shook his head. "Figures it was them. They're always working on some new project."

Augustine smiled. "It's true. Sometimes the formation of a project takes nothing more than an offhand remark from someone passing by!"

The Fleet Admiral's jaw dropped. "Are you serious?"

"Yes! In fact when my representative was down in the Abyss instructing the scientists what they wanted done to the Pomornik LCAC's, a group of scientists were passing by and overheard the conversation."

The old Admiral chuckled. "They stopped and introduced themselves, then asked questions about what was going on. When the representative told them that we wanted to modify the Pomornik LCAC for close combat fighting, they became interested and asked why we would do such a thing. When he told them that we wanted a fast watercraft to be capable of engaging Super Dreadnaughts, the leader of that group said that his team could make something that was faster and smaller than a Pomornik, and would operate on water. And just like that a new project was started!"

"Wow! Just like that?" the Fleet Admiral was impressed.

"They really encourage creativity down there in the Abyss. And when you have very little red tape in your way, you can really accomplish a great deal! Just come up with an idea, and you're on your way!"

"What's their plan? What are they going to work on?"

"A fast attack craft that can operate on water. Small, fast, and deadly: that's what their goal is. They're going to shoot for 100 knots, meaning that it'll probably have to be a hovercraft or a hydrofoil. I for one can't wait to see what they turn out. A craft that's small and deadly could give the Super Dreadnaughts a run for their money!"

"The Abyss is indeed a great bastion of military creativity." somebody said from behind them. "What a shame those scientists are wasting that creativity designing weapons instead of a cure to autism."

Halsey and Augustine turned around to find themselves face to face with-

"General Sherman?" Admiral Halsey said in surprise. "Where did you come from, sir?"

The man from Liberia laughed. "Where did I come from? Why from the second Blackhawk, of course!"

The Fleet Admiral slapped his head in embarrassment. "Of course you did, sir." Remembering who he was dealing with, Halsey quickly stood at attention. "Erm, it's good to see you again sir, but what is the Air Force's purpose here?"

The General smiled. "The reason why I'm here is because Prince William has granted me the opportunity to test our new XBGM-1123 Penetrator-class missiles. And the Manchuria is our guinea pig."

He turned to Admiral Augustine. "May I begin?"

The Admiral nodded. "Affirmative. You may start your tests."

"Good!" He checked his wristwatch. "He should be in position by now." Sherman said. He pulled out his radio. "Recluse 15, this is General Salazar Sherman. Do you copy?"

A voice came in over the radio.

"This is Recluse 15, sir."

"Recluse, what is your position?"

"Eight miles from target, sir. Awaiting your orders."

The General turned to the two Admirals. "Are we at a safe distance?"

Augustine nodded. "Short of a nuclear detonation, we should we safe from whatever you're throwing at the Marchuria."

General Sherman turned back to the radio. "Commence testing. Fire one missile at the Manchuria."

"Roger. Fox One."

Thirty thousand feet up in the sky, The B-52 fired its missile. The three military men watched as a white steak came flying down towards the old battleship.

"Now, Admiral Augustine!" the General said in a commanding voice. "Have the Manchuria fire four SM-3 missiles at it!"

The Admiral was surprised that the General would order him to attack his experimental weapon, but he didn't question it.

Augustine toggled his radio to the remote ship control station on the Schadenfreude. "Fire four SM-3 missiles!"

From within the deck of the Manchuria, 4 SM-3 missiles burst out of their Armored Box Launchers and shot into the air.

"Four against one." Fleet Admiral Halsey said grimly.

"Just watch," the General replied.

The four SM-3s flew up in a tight group to meet the missile, which was flying right into their path. The Penetrator made no attempt to maneuver away from the missiles. It flew right at them like they were playing a game of chicken.

And then it happened.

As the SM-3s closed in on their target, they suddenly began to break the tight formation they had taken when going up to meet the experimental missile. All of a sudden, one of the missiles shot off in another direction!

"What the hell?" said Admiral Augustine.

But that wasn't that half of it. The other 3 missiles also veered out of formation, and flew off into different directions!

"They've lost control!" shouted Fleet Admiral Halsey.

"Exactly." replied General Sherman.

The Penetrator Missile was suddenly without a barrier. It came down unopposed and slammed into the forward battery of the Manchuria, causing the gun emplacement to go up in a tremendous explosion of flame, scattering pieces of burning twisted metal all over the place.

Fleet Admiral Halsey turned to General Sherman. "How the hell did that happen?!"

"I'll tell you in a minute." he reached for his radio. "Recluse 15, fire two Penetrator missiles!"

The pilot radioed back. "Roger General. Fox two, Fox three."

The General turned to Admiral Augustine. "Now Admiral! Have the Manchuria fire TEN SM-3s at the missiles!"

The old Admiral couldn't believe what he'd just heard! "What did you say?!"

"Do it Admiral!"

The Admiral was annoyed to be talked at like he was below the General, but he went to his radio. "Fire ten SM-3 missiles!"

Ten more Armored Box Launchers on the Manchuria opened up and let loose their SM-3s.

Like before, the SM-3s shot up towards the Penetrators in a tight group. And like before, the Penetrators made no effort to move out of the way.

And then it happened again! One of the missiles veered out of control, and fell into the water. Two SM-3s crashed into each other, causing an explosion that took out four more missiles. The remaining missiles shot off course or fell back into the ocean.

The two Penetrator missiles came down and slammed into the deck of the Manchuria. The battleship shook and groaned as the RADAR tower and one of the main guns was struck and ripped apart by the missile's deadly yield. A second, larger fire had ignited and began to spread.

Admiral Augustine turned to General Sherman, his patience running thin. "Now will you tell me what that thing just did, General?"

The General knew from experience that Augustine was beginning to get annoyed by his secrecy, so he did the smart thing and started to talk.

"The XBGM-1123 Penetrator Missile. It was designed with a missile scrambling system so that it can protect itself from being shot down by other missiles before it reached it's target."

"Holy shit!"

General Sherman grinned at Augustine's candid reaction. "We copied the technology from a countermeasure on the EB-180 Stargazer. Although not as powerful, it is capable of engaging 4 missiles at once, and can prioritize targets based on their distance from it."

Fleet Admiral Halsey, considered his words before he spoke. "This is all very interesting, but is the payload worth the price of this technology?"

"Oh, the warheads will be replaceable. That way we can load anything from conventional explosives, to MOABs, to nukes, to whatever else we can come up with."

The Fleet Admiral smiled. "I see. Different warheads for different priorities of missions."

"Exactly!" the General affirmed.

Fleet Admiral Halsey turned to look at the Manchuria. Its upper decks were totally destroyed by the missiles. The RADAR tower, and three of the four main guns had been completely blown away. The fires caused by the missile strikes were beginning to merge into one large fire.

It was a miracle that the ship was still floating.

"The Navy could have a use for such a technology. If my missile ships had a cache of Penetrators, we could bypass the defenses of enemy ships! Lay waste to entire fleets without a decent resistance!"

General Sherman smiled at the Fleet Admiral. "Yes indeed. This is a powerful technology. And the government would be foolish to pass this by."

The General grinned. "In the meantime, gentlemen, I need to file my report with the Prince. May I have a lift back to Yalta?"

The Fleet Admiral responded. "Of course General!" he toggled his radio. "Set course for the capital!"

Admiral Augustine stepped over to General Sherman. "I think I'll follow you. I have to secure more ships for testing."

The Schadenfreude and the Iron Maiden sailed away on a southerly course, leaving the battleship Manchuria to burn on the open sea.

3 Days After the First Test
Location: 150 Miles south of Yalta

The Schadenfreude and the Iron Maiden were out performing their second test. 2000 feet starboard of the carriers, were the test subjects: The Ontario-class battleship Chicopee, and an Ontario Mk II, the Mishnah.

As Admiral of the Navy Vittorio Augustine was waiting for the test to begin, he reflected on current events. The eight Dauntless-class Heavy Battleships were currently passing though the Indian Ocean on their trip back to New Caledonia. Augustine hoped that they would make it back safely, especially considering the war that was going on.

A couple weeks ago, the nation of Tocrowkia declared war on the Griffencrest Corporation for it's warmongering and various crimes against humanity. Tocrowkia's bold declaration inspired other nations, notably New Ausha, The Infinite Crucible, The Scandinvans, and Hataria to join them in the fight.

Officially, Wilhelmsborough took no side in this war. But privately, Prince William hoped that the coalition against Griffencrest Corporation succeeded. Admiral Augustine hoped for the same thing, but he didn't have the same feelings of goodwill towards the nation of Hataria. Many in the Principality were still angry at the sprawling nation for attempting to subjugate their ally, West Corinthia, under their control. Though they had eventually been driven off, the Principality was still hostile and suspicious of the Empire's intentions.

Personally, Augustine wished that the coalition would succeed, but hoped that before it was all over, Hataria would be decimated by Griffencrest's allies.

At that moment, Fleet Admiral Halsey interrupted Augustine's thoughts. "Admiral?"

The Admiral turned around in surprise. "Hm? Yes Fleet Admiral, what is it?"

"The Chicopee is ready sir. All that's needed is your confirmation."

Admiral Augustine looked out at the Chicopee in the distance, it was positioned right next to the Mishnah.

"Do it."

All of a sudden, the battleship Chicopee, which just a few seconds was sitting placid on the sea, exploded in a ball of flame. The ship blew apart, scattering pieces of the ship in all directions.

The explosion engulfed the Mishnah, and several more explosions ripped across the Mk II Battleship as it was consumed by the Chicopee's destructive force.

The explosions soon came to an end. But now, the ships (or what was left of them) couldn't be seen at the Admirals' distance. The fire and smoke was masking the wreckage of the ships from their view.

From the deck of the Iron Maiden, Halsey and Augustine watched as the fires burned out of control.

"What was the point of this test, sir?" Halsey asked.

"To see how badly a multi-MOAB detonation will damage a ship in close proximity to it." Augustine responded. "Admiral bring the Iron Maiden in to take a closer look. I want to see the level of destruction."

"Yes sir."

10 Minutes later, the Iron Maiden pulled up to within 100 feet of the devestation, and the two Admirals beheld what the weapons had done.

The Chicopee was gone. Completely and utterly gone. There was nothing left to call a ship. Nothing was left but flaming wreckage floating in the water.

But the Mishnah...

Halsey gasped. He had never seen anything like it.

The Mishnah was totally unrecognizable from the proud ship it was 15 minutes ago. The force of the explosion from the MOABs had knocked the ship into the water on it's starboard side.

But the port side, the side facing the Chicopee, was blown off exposing the internal structure of the Battleship. The innards of the ship were absolutely destroyed. Decks had collapsed. There was a massive fire burning out of control.

As the two Admirals watched, the Mishnah slowly began to sink beneath the waves.

Augustine turned to Halsey. "There were twenty MOABs placed inside the Chicopee." he pointed at the Mishnah. "Twenty MOABs to bring down a battleship."

"So...it's a fire ship?" ventured Fleet Admiral Halsey.

Admiral Augustine nodded. "Yes. A fire ship. Even in this modern age, such strategies are still affective."

The Admiral smiled grimly. "Just imagine what would happen if we filled a battleship with a hundred MOABS and did to a Super Dreadnaught what we did to the Mishnah. Or if we bought a Super Dreadnaught, filled it with 300 MOABs, and made that explode next to another Super Dreadnaught!"

Fleet Admiral Halsey gulped. "It sounds absolutely terrifying, sir."

The Admiral of the Navy was brought out of his reverie. "Yes. Yes it is, Halsey. Yes it is."

The Admirals watched as the flaming wreck that once was the Mishnah slid beneath the waves.

OOC: I was hoping you wouldnt mention me here, but none the less

IC:

Rather than destroying those ships, Griffincrest would like to purchase the remaining vessels. Our sattellites have also picked up on an interesting piece of weaponry. I was rather amazed when I saw the missile send other missiles away. At first I thought the grainy sattelite footage decieved me, but it was confirmed to be real after the second test. You would not be willing to sell us some of these weapons, would you? We can pay very well.

The International Undersea Salvage Cooperative-- RUS-- Registered Union Syndicate wishes to have rights to salvage your destroyed ship for scrap metal. We have the necessary undersea equipment to collect the metal for recycling. With your permission, the Naval brigades would like to collect said material after you finished destroying your ships.

Regards,

Supreme Strategos, Oleg Sharp

OOC: Why? What's in a name, or in this case, the mentioning of a name?

IC:

The Principality is not at liberty to sell any of our military systems to an organization with a reputation such as yours. And please, keep your satellites away from my country.

The International Undersea Salvage Cooperative-- RUS-- Registered Union Syndicate wishes to have rights to salvage your destroyed ship for scrap metal. We have the necessary undersea equipment to collect the metal for recycling. With your permission, the Naval brigades would like to collect said material after you finished destroying your ships.

Regards,

Supreme Strategos, Oleg Sharp

Secret IC:

When we have completed the destruction of all eight battleships, we will allow the IUSC to salvage the wrecks for scrap metal. We only ask however, for a fee of $100 million to allow you to conduct your operations in the Black Sea.

Please reply at your earliest convenience,

Prince William, Sovereign

OOC: Nice new toys you have there. The only problem I see is that you dont use Tomahawk Cruise Missiles against airborne targets. Sort of a nitpick, I know, but replace them with SM-2s or SM-3s.

IC:
Secret,
We are glad to accept the $100 million dollar fee to salvage your ships. It is greatly appreciated. We would like to thank you. We will be paying in gold bullion. This is 20 karat gold untraceable. We appreciate doing business with you.
We will begin salvage of said ships immediately.
Because of the nature of the explosion we may wish to sound out the area of the sea bed to locate the salvage material.
We are sending several specialty ships with Scorpion, UUVs, salvage subs and salvage ships into the area.
There are rumors that Aleutius SSN cruise missile sub may have sunk in 2003 the area of the Black Sea due to nuclear maintenance accidents. We cannot confirm this. Our records have been uncertain.
There is confirmation of an ammunition fire aboard an armed cruise missile destroyer the Marlin in 2000. It is confirmed to have sunk in the area of the Black Sea.
We would like permission for the recovery of said military ships and submarines.
We are also interested in general salvage of ships within the area of the black sea.

Regards,
Supreme Strategos Sharp.

OOC: I am basing this idea on some of the sunken subs and destroyers that may have gone down around the black sea. Specifically, the Kursk.

OOC: Glad to see these beasts put to rest with their guns firing.

2 Days after the Destruction of the Chicopee and Mishnah
Location: 130 miles Southwest of Yalta

The time had come to test the Pomornik LCACs that had been modified to attack large warships at close range. And for this test, the battleships Saros and Brandenburg were next on the chopping block.

The Pomornik LCACs were originally designed as a transportation craft for troops and supplies. What attracted the Navy to it however, was that it's top speed, 63 knots, made it the fastest craft in the navy, whose ships only moved between 28 and 36 knots.

And so, the scientists of the Abyss took several of the Pomorniks and modified them to carry guns and missile launchers. Along with the standard 2 x 6 AK-630 gattl. AA, the scientists added two Mk 13 Missile Launchers, four M242 Bushmaster chain guns, and 2 M198 howitzers armed with High Explosives (HE).

All of these weapons meant that the Pomornik had little space to transport troops or supplies, but the general consensus by the Navy and the scientists were that some sacrifices had to be made.

Admiral Augustine stood with Fleet Admiral Halsey on the deck of the Schadenfreude and watched as the ten modified Pomorniks were lowered into the water. 1500 feet starboard of the carrier were the two battleships.

"The LCACs are going to attack the Saros and the Brandenburg." Augustine explained. "They'll rush the battleships as they're firing their weapons, get within 15 feet of the hulls, and start firing away."

The Fleet Admiral started. "Did you just say that the battleships are going to fire at our experimental craft?"

The Admiral of the Navy attempted to placate Halsey. "Relax. Everything will be done by remote control. We have pilots in a simulation chamber that will control the craft from a screen and a joystick."

As he finished speaking, the last of the modified LCACs was lowered into the water.

"Alright then!" said the Admiral in an energized voice. "Let's get this show on the road!

Fleet Admiral Halsey toggled his radio. "This is Fleet Admiral Halsey. Begin the test!"

With that, the experiment began. The ten Pomorniks began moving towards the battleships. They started out slowly, but they quickly increased to the maximum speed.

"Look at them sonuvabitches go!" shouted Halsey as they shot towards the battleships.

Augustine could only grin. "Yep." he replied.

And then the battleships did something that the last three hadn't done: they started to move.

As the ten armored LCACs shot towards them, the Battleships moved into an attack position. And then, the big guns let loose their thundering volley.

Halsey jumped. "I may be a Fleet Admiral, but I'll never get used to that damn noise!"

The Admiral of the Navy laughed out loud. "You've been spending too much time in the Strait, old man!"

The 305 mm shells came down on the Pomorniks, but the fast moving watercraft shot right by as they hit the water.

Quickly, the LCACs broke off into two groups of five and rushed the battleships. The Saros and the Brandenburg suddenly found that the hovercraft was too close for them to use their guns, so the remote gunners on the Schadenfreude switched to turrets.

The Pomorniks were pelted with machine gun fire. One LCAC was pierced by gunfire and quickly slowed down. The battleships took advantage of the crippled ship and let loose a wave of gunfire. The Pomornik was torn apart.

"$75 million taxpayer dollars down the drain." Halsey said glumly.

The remaining LCACs moved into attack range. They maneuvered themselves to within 15 feet of the battleship's hulls and started pounding away with missiles, howitzers, and chain guns. The powerful weapons slammed and tore into the hulls of the ships. The Pomorniks raced around the ships in a circle ripping open the ships at their waterlines.

The battleships however, were not going down without a fight. They sailed away from each other.

The Admirals watched with interest.

"Now what do you think their strategy is?" asked Halsey,

Augustine didn't answer. He just looked at the scene with an expression of stone.

The battleships moved to a distance of 200 feet away from each other. And then, the unbelievable happened. The Saros and the Brandenburg started firing at each other!

"What the hell?!" yelled Fleet Admiral Halsey.

"Clever bastards." whispered Admiral Augustine.

"What?" asked the Fleet Admiral not understanding why Augustine was impressed. Then he looked again at the scene, and he saw why.

When the LCACs were so close to the battleships, it was next to impossible for one to shot the LCACs that were attacking it. But when the battleships put distance between each other, they were more capable of shooting the other battleship's attackers.

Machine gun fire rained down upon the LCACs, ripping the cushioning apart, causing the hovercraft to slow down, and in one case, causing one Pomornik to crash into another. The tide was turning against the heavily armored hovercraft.

Finally Augustine had seen enough. He reached for his radio. "This is Admiral Augustine! Terminate the experiment immediately!"

Immediately, the battleships stopped firing, and the remaining Pomorniks, three in total, slowly came to a stop.

Fleet Admiral Halsey turned to the old Admiral. "Why did you cancel the experiment?" he asked.

The Admiral shook his head. "It took them too long to punch holes into the hull of the battleships. Their weapons were too weak, even at close range. And when the battleships discovered that they could take out each other's LCAC's, that's when I knew it was all over."

"So the experiment was a failure?"

Admiral Augustine shook his head. "Not totally. They could be used as gunboats. Their speed could be frustrating for enemy attack craft. But no: Close quarter combat against Super Dreadnaughts is not the Pomornik's strength."

The Admirals looked out at the Saros and the Brandenburg. They were still floating outright on the water, seemingly in defiance of the Wilhelmsborough Navy's orders to see them destroyed.

The old Admiral was impressed by their resilience. Perhaps he wouldn't destroy those two after all...

Halsey nodded. "Sure hope that the Abyss boys can come up with something better."

The old Admiral smiled. "Oh they will. I guarantee it. But next time we won't use cannons or machine guns. Oh no, what we need is something that will make a big explosion."

The Admiral suddenly thought of something. He pulled out his schedule book and checked for a few days ahead. He found what he was looking for, and looked up with a smile.

"Explosives are the next tests!" he said gleefully.

1 Day after the failed experiment on the capabilities of Pomornik LCACs
Location: 100 miles south of Sevastopol

The Schadenfreude and the Iron Maiden had assembled for the fourth testing of Wilhelmsborough's experimental weapons. The Ontario Mk. II Battleship Scorpius was sitting 2 kilometers starboard of the two supercarriers, in preparation for the experiment.

Admiral Augustine was explaining to Fleet Admiral Halsey what was going on with regards to the testing.

"This is the first of three experiments that will test three high explosive torpedoes that the Abyss has designed. This is an excellent opportunity to test their capacities, because depending on which torpedo fairs best, it will become the armament used on the Hydrojet Fighter against Super Dreadnoughts."

Halsey interrupted. "Wait. Hydrojet Fighter? What are you talking about?"

Augustine threw his hands up in the air dramatically. "The fast water craft that the Abyss is developing! I told you about it at the Manchuria test!"

Halsey nodded his head as he remembered. "But that was six days ago! Are you telling me that they've already come up with a name for the thing?"

The old Admiral wagged his finger at Halsey. "Oh no, it goes beyond that! Actually, they've been at work for 11 days, but in that amount of time, they've made calculations, and drawn up design plans. Right now, they're looking for building materials and developing engines that will push the XWF-1A, that's it's experiment designation, over 100 knots.

Fleet Admiral Halsey raised his eyebrows. "Wow, that's impressive."

Suddenly, a voice came in over a speaker.

The test shall begin in T-minus two minutes.

The two Admirals looked over the side of the Schadenfreude. Down there in the water was a Pomornik LCAC, and strapped to it's port side was a very large orange tube.

"Admiral Halsey, say hello to the MOAB-based Torpedo."

The Fleet Admiral almost lost his breath.

"MOAB...torpedo?!." breathed the Fleet Admiral, looking at the incredible size of the weapon. "They make torpedoes out of those things now?"

Augustine shrugged. "Hell, given the chance, we'd make landmines out of em."

Sudden the two Admirals heard the sound of rapid scribbling. They turned around to find a scientist furiously writing a note on his clipboard. When he was done, he grinned at the senior officers and walked off.

Halsey and Augustine exchanged a look, as if they knew what was going to happen.

The loudspeaker came back on.

Begin the experiment.

At once, the LCAC carrying the MOAB torpedo shot towards the battleship Scorpius. As it got within 500 meters of the target, the Pomornik launched the MOAB torpedo.

"This is it!" shouted Halsey.

The MOAB torpedo hit the Scorpius's port side. At once the torpedo detonated in a massive explosion.

On the Schadenfreude, Halsey gasped at the sight.

"Look at the size of that blast compared to the size of the ship!" he shouted. "It almost encompasses the damn thing!"

The Scorpius shook, it visibly shook, as the destructive power of the MOAB's 400 foot blast radius tore into the hull, and cut through protective watertight compartments.

"Incredible," breathed Admiral of the Navy Augustine, watching the sight through a pair on binoculars.

The MOAB had torn a hole 100 feet wide into the side of the ship. Fires were burning out of control. Water was gushing in.

All of a sudden, before the Admiral's eyes, the Scorpius began to turn into the direction of the blast.

"It's going over!" shouted Halsey.

The ship groaned as it tipped over and fell into the water. The RADAR tower hit the water with a crash.

Slowly but surely, the battleship Scorpius began to sink beneath the waves.

Admiral Augustine turned to Fleet Admiral Halsey.

"Well Admiral? What's your assessment on their power.

The Fleet Admiral thought for a moment.

"That was impressive, but I think that it'll take more than that to take down the Super Dreadnoughts."

The Admiral of the Navy nodded. "Well, fortunately for us, there are two more tests to be performed. And I think that they'll pack a bigger punch than just a MOAB."

The Fleet Admiral looked at Augustine in surprise. "Are we using low-yield nukes?"

The old Admiral looked at Halsey as if he had two heads. "Are you mad? In this volatile world, even a bunker buster can lead to a nuclear war! Therefore, we have to come up with non-nuclear solutions to our-"

But then he was interrupted as a Lieutenant carrying a phone ran up. "Admiral!" he saluted. "Phone call from General Sherman!"

Augustine took the phone. "Yes General, how may I help you?"

There was silence as Augustine listened to the General speak, but his face spoke volumes. It went from professional to happy.

Finally the Admiral spoke. "Oh thank goodness they said yes!" then there was more silence as the General spoke again.

Whatever the General told Augustine had a major impact, because his jaw dropped and his eyes went wide. He had been stunned.

"They decided not to-oh that's wonderful! Thank you General! We'll talk more in Yalta!" he hung up.

Fleet Admiral Halsey stepped forward. "What did he say?"

Admiral Augustine turned to Halsey with a grin. "Prince William approved the manufacturing of the Penetrater-class Missiles!"

Halsey's face broke out into a grin. "That's excellent!"

"But that's not all! The government has decided not to destroy the Saros and Brandenburg! They're going to try and sell them to a foreign military instead!"

The Fleet Admiral threw his fist into the air. "HA HA, I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!" he hollered. "Those ol' battleships sure earned themselves a helluva respite!"

The two Admirals laughed and shook hands. Meanwhile, off their starboard bow, the battleship Scorpius passed beneath the waves.

------------------------------

Somewhere in the Black Sea, a telephone rang. Then it rang twice. Finally, a hand reached out and picked the phone off its receiver.

"This is President Gloria Ivanhoe of the Free Republic of Discordia. With whom am I speaking?"

"Gloria?" Prince William's voice came through the earpiece. "This is Prince William. I got 2 battleships that I'm trying to get rid of. They've barely been used, but I'll sell the two of 'em to your country for $15 Billion apiece. Do you want them?"

"Do I!"

One day after the testing of the MOAB torpedo
Location: 150 miles Southwest of Sevastopol

The Iron Maiden took up a safe position 2 kilometers away from the Ontario Battleship Almaden.
Admiral Augustine would not be overseeing today's test. He was in Yalta, attending a meeting with Prince William and the senior officers from other branches of the Wilhelmsborough military. As such, he had left Fleet Admiral Ernest Halsey to conduct the fifth test from the Iron Maiden.

At present, Fleet Admiral Halsey was on the runway, going over the procedures for the testing. But as he was about to find out, being a Fleet Admiral didn't mean that he he was let in on everything that went on behind the scenes.

The weapons scientist explained what was going to take place.

"For this test, we're going to be testing the destructive power of a new torpedo." he motioned towards the torpedo which was currently being lowered into the water by a crane.

Halsey looked at the weapon. It was considerably smaller than the MOAB torpedo.

He looked back at the scientist. "Are you sure that that thing is powerful enough to do the job that the MOAB did?"

The Abyss scientist smiled. "I have complete faith that this weapon will far exceed the previous test. This time, we're using pure Cyclotetramethylene-Tetranitramine."

The Fleet Admiral's face drew a blank. "Cyclo-tetra-meth-what? What is this stuff?"

The scientist's face made a wicked grin. "That's 100 percent pure HMX."

The Fleet Admiral's eyes went wide and he leapt back in shock. "Jesus Christ!" he shouted. "What the hell are you doing with something that powerful?!"

"I see you've heard about it after all, sir!" The scientist laughed out loud at the unsettled Fleet Admiral.

"Well, the reason why we're using HMX is because there's no way in hell that a small fast-moving watercraft is going to be able to carry one of those MOAB torpedoes! They're too large, and they're too heavy!"

The scientist continued. "You see, Admiral, the MOAB uses 18,700 pounds of H-6, also known as RDX. RDX has a Relative Effectiveness Factor of 1.60. HMX on the other hand, has a Relative Effectiveness Factor of 1.70. It delivers a much more powerful punch! And since it's so powerful, we can use less of it, reducing the amount of weight that the Hydrojet Fighter will have to carry!"

"Well, I...I suppose that's a good thing." said Halsey dumbly. "But the MOAB torpedo is a powerful bit of ordinance!"

The scientist shrugged. "Powerful, if you can't use a nuke." he laughed. "Just remember that no matter how powerful we can make our explosives, nothing can match the power of a nuclear detonation."

For a moment, there was silence between the two men. The only noise was the sound of the waves crashing against the side of the ship.

A Pomornik LCAC came up under the torpedo that was being lowered into the water. The crew onboard began to untie the weapon from the crane.

Halsey turned to the scientist. "What if this weapon isn't affective against the Super Dreadnoughts?"

The scientist replied. "Then we still have the last weapons test tomorrow. It's also a torpedo by the way."

Halsey nodded. "Yeah, I've heard that much, but what if that fails our expectations? What will you do then?"

The scientist thought about that for a moment, and then leaned in close to the Fleet Admiral.

"I'm not supposed to talk about this outside of the Abyss," he whispered, "but in the case that everything should fail, we in the Abyss have already gotten to work on developing a nuclear weapon in torpedo form."

"What?" Halsey was flabbergasted. "Use nukes against them, are you insane?" He whispered fiercely.

The scientist raised his hands defensively. "It's very low-yield, around the range of a bunker buster. Its power would only be about 10 kilotons!"

The Fleet Admiral raised his eyebrow in suspicion. "Is that small?"

The scientist nodded. "Very small, sir! The detonation over Hiroshima dwarfs it in size, and even that was a relatively small detonation! Honestly, it's not like we're throwing a Tsar Bomba at them!"

The scientist laughed a little too long for Halsey's comfort. To distract himself, he turned to look at the progress being made on the LCAC and saw that the torpedo was ready to go.

"Alright then, let's get this show on the road!" he said to the scientist.

"Quite right, sir!" He toggled his radio. "Begin the test!"

The LCAC's engines charged up as the hovercraft turned towards the Almaden. And then, quickly picking up speed, it rushed towards the battleship.

As they were watching the LCAC make its run, Halsey turned once again to the scientist and asked, "How much destructive power is in that thing?"

The LCAC got within range, and fired the HMX torpedo.

The scientist answered. "While there's less material than there is in the MOAB, the HMX's greater destructive power means that the amount we have in now will give an equal or greater blast."

As the scientist finished, there came the sound of a terrible explosion. The scientist and the Fleet Admiral quickly turned in the direction from which it came.

It was the Almaden. The HMX torpedo had hit the battleship along its port side, predictably causing an explosion.

But what an explosion! The explosion caused by that single torpedo not only ripped a hole in the hull about 100 feet in diameter, it also blew the entire top deck off! The explosion had caused the heavy guns to burst out of the deck and fly one hundred and fifty feet into the air before crashing down into the water, which was filled with the firey debris that once was the Almaden.

Back on the Iron Maiden, the two men looked out upon the destruction they had wrought. Halsey had an expression of aghast horror, while the scientist's face was lit up in wonder and amazement. He turned to the Fleet Admiral.

"I told you it would be more powerful," he said.

Halsey didn't look at the man. He just continued to look out upon the water.

"Yep," he replied.

The largest piece of the ship-if it could be called a ship anymore-was completely swamped in flames. They were rushing up from the lower parts of the ship to the top deck, like a bunch of fiery spirits released from captivity.

As this was going on, the Battleship Almaden was sinking rapidly into the water. This time, it didn't fall on its side like the ships before it did. It went down in an upright position. Fleet Admiral Halsey was amazed. It was almost as if the ship wished to die with some dignity intact.

The last bit of the ship sunk beneath the waves. All that was left now were pieces of debris floating on the waves and a large cloud of smoke rising into the sky.

And all within the span of 4 minutes.

Halsey turned away and shook his head. "Honestly, I don't know how much longer I can put up with this."

The scientist looked at the Fleet Admiral with sympathy. "There's only one more test left sir. One more test and you won't have to deal with this again."

The Admiral shuddered. "I hope that I don't have to do this again for a long time. We're putting down those ships like sick dogs, goddamnit!" Halsey sighed. "Well, if there's any consolation here, it's that the Saros and the Brandenburg will be safe in their new role of defending the Free Republic of Discordia from enemies."

The Fleet Admiral snapped out of his revere. "Well, I have to file a report with Admiral Augustine." He reached for his radio and toggled the CIC. "Set course for Yalta once the LCAC is safely aboard."

"Aye, sir." the helmsman replied.

Thirty minutes later, when the LCAC had been loaded into the cargo hold, the Iron Maiden, set out for the capital of Yalta. The wreckage of the Almaden was left to burn out in water.

OOC: Four hundred kilitons?! Thats THIRTY-TWO TIMES the power of Hiroshima!

OOC:

Alright then, if you know so much about nuclear weapons, then tell me how much power is in a nuclear bunker buster, and I'll adjust my post accordingly.

OOC:

Alright then, if you know so much about nuclear weapons, then tell me how much power is in a nuclear bunker buster, and I'll adjust my post accordingly.

OOC: Umm, what kind of bunkers? Cold War nuclear bunkers (and silos) were designed to sustain damage from airburst of up to a 500 kiloton nuke from about 500m away. A real 'Nuclear Bunker Buster' would be something like a conventional bunker buster penetrator with a 100 ton to 5-15 kiloton warhead (depends on your doctrine). RL US testing after WW2 shows a 20kiloton warhead detonated underwater about 400ft away from a WW1-era battleship will just barely sink it, a 20kt detonation prolly won't sink a NS battleship or an SD within a reasonable timeframe. (Prolly would mission kill a BB or severly damage an SD, but not destroy it outright).

Also, as was noted earlier, a Tomahawk cruise missile is a land/ship attack missile, not a SAM, either your navy is the laughing stock of the NS world or you need to get some SM-2 or 3 missiles, which if you had decent shipboard radar or ECCM would not be confused like that. Also, a MOAB would not be able to detonate underwater because it needs oxygen to react, and there is very little free oxygen underwater, most likely is the same case with HMX, and it's already in use in today's military and is not as awesomely powerful as you're playing it to be.

OOC: alright, I'll switch the tomahawks with SM-3's and give the bunker buster torpedoes 10 kiloton warheads. Thanks for the heads up. If I was rping with other people, I would have really screwed up!

One day after the testing of the HMX torpedo
Location: 125 miles south of Sevastopol

The two supercarriers Schadenfreude and Iron Maiden pulled into range of the Ontario Mk. II Battleship Talmud for what would be the final test of the military's experimental weaponry.

"Well Halsey," smiled Admiral Vittorio Augustine, "this is the end of the line."

Fleet Admiral Ernest Halsey nodded. "Yes sir, it certainly has been an amazing week. I've never seen such destruction before."

Augustine's smile fell slightly. "Yes well, we're all hoping that it will come to good use in the future."

Suddenly, they heard someone shout out "alright, hoist it up!"

The two Admirals turned in the direction of the command. It was a crewman, and he was standing over an open hatch. The command that he made was towards the operator of a crane, who at that moment, was lifting a torpedo out of said hatch.

Fleet Admiral Halsey gave the torpedo a look, and furrowed his eyebrows. The HMX torpedo had been much smaller than the MOAB torpedo. But as Halsey looked over this new weapon, he was stunned to realize that this torpedo was even smaller than the HMX torpedo!

The Fleet Admiral glanced at the Talmud, and then glanced at the torpedo again. What was going on? He had to ask Augustine.

"That's a pretty small torpedo." he remarked out loud. "Are you sure it can get the job done?"

Fortunately, his question received the intended response. "Ooooh, yes." the Admiral replied, wickedly. "I have full confidence that this torpedo will surpass the HMX torpedo in destructive power."

Halsey raised an eyebrow. More powerful than HMX? He had to bite...

"What's the explosive that we're using?"

The Admiral continued to watch as the torpedo was lowered into place by the crew of the Pomornik LCAC.

"Octanitrocubane." he responded.

Fleet Admiral Halsey mentally kicked himself. Why wasn't he more up to date on the various kinds of explosives? Wasn't TNT enough?

"I've never heard of it, sir." Halsey responded, sheepishly. "How strong is it?"

The Admiral of the Navy looked at Halsey. "You know how HMX has a relative effectiveness factor of 1.7?"

"Yes I do, why?" He had a feeling where this was going.

"Octanitrocubane is far more powerful," Augustine replied. "Its rating on the Relative Effectiveness Scale that is 2.7"

Halsey's jaw dropped in shock. He couldn't believe what he had just heard! "T-two point s-seven, Sir?" he stammered out.

When he witnessed the testing of the MOAB torpedo on the Scorpius, he was so impressed by the destructive power of the weapon, that he didn't expect anything short of a nuclear detonation could surpass it.

Then he witnessed the power of the HMX torpedo when it annihilated the Battleship Almaden using far less material than the MOAB, yet still managing to surpass the MOAB in destructive power, due to the HMX being a more potent explosive; .10 points higher than RDX, the explosive used in the MOAB.

But this new explosive, Octanitrocubane, was allegedly more powerful than HMX. Considering what happened to the Almaden, if this explosive was truly as powerful as they claimed...

Fleet Admiral Halsey looked at the Battleship Talmud anchored 2500 meters off the Schadenfreude's starboard side and shuddered.

The crew of the Pomornik LCAC finished loading the Octanitrocubane torpedo into place. "We're ready to start the experiment!" one of them shouted up to Admiral Augustine.

"Very good!" Admiral Augustine shouted back. "Begin the final test!"

At once, the LCAC broke away from the side of the Schadenfreude and shot towards the battleship Talmud.

It got within range of the ship.

It fired the torpedo.

The torpedo, filled to the brim with the highly explosive Octanitrocubane, slammed into the port side of the Talmud.

And the ship blew up.

There was no better way to describe what had happened. The torpedo struck the Talmud along the waterline. And then, seemingly everything above the waterline exploded.

"Amazing! Amazing!" marveled Admiral Augustine.

Fleet Admiral Halsey looked away as if he were in pain.

The destruction of the Talmud had surpassed that of the Almaden brought on by the HMX torpedo. Octanitrocubane was indeed a very powerful explosive, for it had done what the HMX and the MOAB had not done: it split the battleship into two pieces.

Pieces of the ship were raining down. A couple pieces of twisted metal crashed onto the deck while the two Admirals quickly moved out of the way.

"Whoa!" laughed Augustine as part of the RADAR dish struck the deck ten feet from them. "I'd say that's a keeper right there! What do you say, Halsey? Halsey?"

The Fleet Admiral looked out upon the destruction that the Octanitrocubane torpedo had rought. There was nothing left of the upper deck: no tower, no gun emplacements, no nothing. All that was left were two flaming pieces of hull sinking into the water.

"I hope that I'll never have to be a witness to these experiments again." said the Fleet Admiral.

The Admiral of the Navy turned to Halsey in surprise. "And why not?" he asked.

There was another explosion in the wreckage. Debris was flung into the air.

Halsey shook his head. "Because it's disrespectful, that's why!" he shouted. "Disrespectful to our history, disrespectful to the crews that served on those ships, and most importantly, disrespectful to the Navy itself!"

Augustine looked at the Fleet Admiral with a stern expression on his face. "Very well then, Fleet Admiral Halsey. You won't have to watch our ships get blown up in the next experiments."

Halsey snapped his head towards the old Admiral in shock. "We have more experiments lined up?!"

Augustine nodded grimly. "Yes that's right. And this time, we'll be testing the capacities of the Hydrojet Fighter."

The old Admiral looked out upon the waves where pieces of the Talmud lay scattered and burning all across the water.

"And in those experiments, we'll be using Super Dreadnoughts."

Halsey did not widen his eyes in shock. He did not jump back. He did not reveal his shock at the revelation.

Instead he stood perfectly calm, and looked the Admiral of the Navy right in the eye.

"Super Dreadnoughts?" he repeated.

"Yes," the old Admiral replied.

The Fleet Admiral nodded slowly. "And where did we get a hold of those monstrosities?"

"Pudite Military Arms Storefront. Same place where we always buy military hardware."

"Pudite?" This was a surprise to the Fleet Admiral, but he only showed it with a raised eyebrow. "Pudite sells these craft for mass consumption?"

"Aye," the Admiral nodded. "We bought five ships. Four Indomitable-class Super Dreadnoughts, and one Defiant-class Dreadnought."

Fleet Admiral Halsey looked out upon the wreckage of the Talmud as the two broken pieces of the hull began to slide beneath the waves. He understood now. He understood why all this testing had been going on. Why the eight battleships were destined for destruction by the country that they had been designated to protect.

The Fleet Admiral rounded on Augustine. "It was all for that Hydrojet fighter, wasn't it?"

Admiral Augustine looked at Halsey and nodded.

Halsey withdrew, stunned. "How badly does our military want to destroy Super-Dreadnoughts?"

Augustine looked Halsey right in the eye. "Badly. But we cannot match them in strength! All that would mean is that other countries will continue to squander resources on building greater, more ridiculously sized craft, just to show who has the biggest naval cock in the land."

The old Admiral laughed cynically. "But oh no, we're not going to fall into that trap. Oh no, Halsey. We're going backwards!"

"Backwards?" Halsey repeated.

"Backwards," he confirmed. "Smaller. Faster. Quicker. Deadlier."

Suddenly, Admiral of the Navy Vittorio Augustine rounded on Fleet Admiral Ernest Halsey and looked him directly in the eye.

"Halsey," he said with a serious tone in his voice. "If you learn anything from your experiences over the past few days, then let it be this: Small is Great, Deception is Power, and Subtlety is Strength."

Halsey looked in awe at the old Admiral, who seemed to have grown to a power and stature beyond his years.

"That is how Wilhelmsborough's military operates, Halsey. That is how it will continue to operate, for that is how we'll survive in this world. That strategy, Halsey, is the web that the spider weaves for its prey."

Augustine pulled back from Halsey. He looked old again. "Well, that's it for the tests, Fleet Admiral. I'm going below to take a quick nap before I file my report. In the mean time, have the ships set course for Yalta."

Admiral Augustine walked towards the door leading below deck, but before he passed through them, he turned his head around.

"Thank you for watching the experiments with me, Halsey. It was good to work with you again."

With that he turned and passed through the door.

OOC: If you intended these to show deliberately dishonest tests designed to get weapons into production that have no place on a battlefield, it's perfect. If not, well, there's a few problems here:

Post #1:

* An Su-27 couldn't carry any weapon that could damage a modern battleship [or even a WW2 battleship] over any tactically useful distance.
* In addition, any missile the Su-27 could actually carry couldn't manage a 3-hit kill on a battleship. The Su-27K is regarded as being impractically loaded carrying just [i]one Sunburn missile, which is only rated as being able to sink a 20,000 ton merchantman in 1-5 hits. Against a fully armoured battleship, you'd require a much larger and heavier weapon to penetrate the thick armoured surfaces.
* Your test here is fundamentally dishonest, ignoring as it does the concept of a battlegroup and, perhaps more bizarrely, the existence of gun-based CIWS and naval ECM.
* The countermeasure system would be entirely impractical in a missile: it would be incredibly large and heavy, and would result in staggeringly high costs and a big, slow missile that wouldn't fit on anything smaller than a strategic bomber. You'd also have a countermeasure that was entirely threat-specific and prone to being rendered useless by unfamiliar missiles or missile guidance systems. Bottom line is, it wouldn't work.

Post #2

* This wouldn't work at all. First engagement by a battlegroup would occur anything up to hundreds of miles from the capital ship it was assigned to protect. A surface weapon that required hull-to-hull contact with the target would never reach its target to begin with, unless that target had already been rendered entirely incapable of defending itself. A special weapon to sink ships that are unable to fire back is absolutely pointless.
* It's also a terrible waste of an armoured hull that could be used as an actual combatant rather than a floating gunnery target.
* MOAB stands for 'massive ordinance air burst.' It's not an airburst if it's inside a ship or underwater.

Post #10

* The Battleships could have sunk several if not all of the approaching LCACs if they had marked their main guns' fire into the water ahead of them instead of aiming to hit them directly. Similarly, if they had guided rounds there would have been casualties on the approach, and their dual-purpose guns would have been far more effective than you suggested.
* Any weapon that has to be within fifteen feet of its target would be entirely useless in naval combat. Engagements at that distance haven't occurred since the age of sail and ball-firing cannons.
* Regardless, not a single system listed among those fitted would be capable of damaging the armoured belt of a battleship. It's unlikely this test would have even happened; the basic capabilities of the weapons involved would have meant the project was never even begun.
* This is perhaps the most obvious example of the flawed nature of these tests. The hovercraft were screwed taking on just two capital ships; imagine how badly they would have fared had they been taking on two capital ships and two whole battlegroups escorting them.

Post #11

* Again, a 'MOAB torpedo' is problematic considering what 'MOAB' stands for. A MOAB warhead is an airbursting blast-type device and would be entirely useless against a heavily armoured ship.
* An externally detonated MOAB wouldn't sink a battleship, and might not even disable it. Nuclear weapons have failed to sink battleships at relatively close ranges; indeed, out of a fleet of around 60 vessels, the two 20-kiloton Operation Crossroads bomb tests only sank 11, with only a handful of those being capital ships.
* A required approach of 500 metres would make this weapon entirely impossible to deliver unless the target was already crippled and unable to engage the delivering vessel, and its entire battlegroup was likewise disabled or sunk.

Post #12

* You can either make the bomb more powerful by having the same amount of explosive, or you can make it equally powerful by having less. The idea that a 'considerably smaller' weapon would still be vastly more powerful than the original despite the fairly minor 0.1 Relative Effectiveness Factor difference is nonsense. You'd still need 17,600 pounds of HMX to equal 18,700 pounds of RDX, which would hardly result in a 'considerably smaller' weapon.
* 10 kilotons is two-thirds of the power of the 15 kiloton 'Little Boy' device that exploded over Hiroshima. The Hiroshima bomb in no way 'dwarfs' a 10 kiloton detonation.
* Obviously, the destruction would be no greater than the previous weapon, and the idea it would somehow blow off the entire deck and throw the turrets a hundred and fifty feet into the air is just silly.

Post #17

* Octanitrocubane is currently impossible to synthesise in any amount that would permit testing of its characteristics as an explosive and therefore its Relative Effectiveness Factor is pure conjecture.
* Even if this were not true, ONC would remain so prohibitively expensive as to entirely prevent its use in general applications, and weapons using large amounts of ONC would be virtually unheard of in MT and even low PMT.
* Even if the figure of 2.7 is true, you'd still require 11,100 pounds of ONC to equal the power of an 18,700 pound RDX warhead. A five metric ton warhead is still not going to lead to a small weapon, and is going to cost you about as much as the ship you're firing it at. It's also going to be too large and heavy for most platforms and missiles to deliver, and a massive target for anti-torpedo systems.
* The idea that 'small is great' is nice until you start having to penetrate several feet of modern composite armour. None of these weapons are small: no carrier-based aircraft could carry a missile that could sink a BB in three hits, and the torpedoes would be gigantic and cumbersome weapons the enemy could engage long before they were any kind of threat.

The bottom line is that most anti-SD 'magic bullet' weapons either ignore basic naval warfare concepts, basic technical concepts, or basic physics. Here, you're ignoring the entire concept of the battlegroup and instead indulging in what I've come to call the Battleship Fallacy; by imagining your target alone in the middle of the ocean, you've completely discounted all the defences that, in a real naval engagement, will prevent any of these systems from working at all. You can't just stroll up to a capital ship and fire whatever you like at it, and you can't rush an entire fleet with a few converted hovercraft and hope to hit the ship in the centre of the formation. Of your tests:

* Only one involved multiple combatants as the target
* None involved enemy air power as a factor
* None involved capitals with escorting non-capitals forming an effective battlegroup
* Only one involved the targets being allowed to move
* Only two involved the targets being allowed to fire
* Gun or laser-based CIWS was ignored in all engagements
* Underwater CIWS was ignored entirely, despite multiple tests involving the delivery of massive torpedoes against capital ships

These aren't going to work out in the big wide world just because they worked on a firing range against static targets with every possible factor in their favour. It's like firing the Paris Gun at a line of stationary tanks and claiming it the perfect anti-tank weapon because it destroyed them all. There's more to it than that.

I can't believe you spent God knows how long typing out such an incredibly long response as to how everything that I posted couldn't work.

It's people like you who take away the fun of the game. I try to create something that may be an interesting plot device in future RPs, and you shoot it down the way you did?

Do you expect me to thank you for wrecking everything that I wrote? Do you expect me to show gratitude that pages of writing account for nothing?

Well I'm not grateful. And I don't appreciate your help.

And I'm keeping the Penetrater missiles.

And I'm keeping the Penetrater missiles.

And having them ignored, then.

Therefore, I will now make a battleship with an ECM array so powerful it destroys all missiles within 30km. It's an awesome plot device and I've written 35,000 words about it.

I can't believe you spent God knows how long typing out such an incredibly long response as to how everything that I posted couldn't work.

It's better than standing by and waiting for you to try to use these things in an actual RP. It's better to be told your seatbelt is undone before the car crashes.

It's people like you who take away the fun of the game. I try to create something that may be an interesting plot device in future RPs, and you shoot it down the way you did?

It won't be an interesting plot device in future RPs, because chances are as soon as you actually tried to use any of these things your opponent would tell you some or all of what I'm telling you now; in other words, that these systems would not work in combat, or at very least would not work as described.

Do you expect me to thank you for wrecking everything that I wrote? Do you expect me to show gratitude that pages of writing account for nothing?

Do you expect me to let you saddle me with the blame for your mistakes? If we're assigning blame for errors here, it is you who wrecked everything you wrote through inadequate research and a lack of understanding of modern naval warfare. Pointing out fundamental errors exist does not shift the blame for those errors onto the person pointing them out; what you're doing is like blaming your teacher for your failing a math test because they marked it.

And you seriously think that noting problems means everything here must 'account for nothing?' It's not particularly difficult to write your way out of this; for example, having an inquest discover the tests were deliberately rigged by involved parties, or a report highly critical of the methods being used delivered to whatever body is evaluating the test results. The designs as stated wouldn't work, that's a given, but that doesn't mean the RP has to stop.

Well I'm not grateful. And I don't appreciate your help.

My apologies. Given the amount of technical information present in your posts, I assumed you were going for some semblance of overall realism, or at very least practicality. I therefore assumed you were writing this thread to develop weapons that would actually be functional and acceptable to other players, since that's what your earlier OOC posts imply. Therefore, I assumed you'd want to be advised of the rather basic conceptual flaws present in the described systems.

And I'm keeping the Penetrater missiles.

Suit yourself, but if you tried to load the described weapon onto an Su-27 it would never get off the ground in the first place, and the jamming system would be pointlessly heavy and expensive and very prone to being unable to affect the enemy's anti-missile missiles.

Switched the Su-27 with a B-52 bomber.

By the way, I never wrote that the three missiles actually sunk the Manchuria. The ship was left to burn on the open sea.

Currently working on a twist ending to explain the destructive power of the torpedoes in the tests.

Epilogue

One week after the final test
Location: Prince William's office

Admiral of the Navy Vittorio Augustine stood before Prince William in his Livadiya Palace office.

"Are you sure that Fleet Admiral Halsey doesn't know?" asked the Prince.

Admiral Augustine nodded. "Yes, your majesty. He is still under the assumption that we used MOABs, HMX, and Octanitrocubane in our testing."

The Prince sighed with relief. "And that will be how it's written in the report. I don't want anybody else besides you, me, and the Abyss scientists to know that those were five, ten, and fifteen kiloton atomic weapons, respectively."

"And so it will be, your majesty. We'll just keep the real reports down in the Abyss." The Old Admiral sighed. "But you know, I feel rather guilty, deceiving a friend and fellow ranking officer."

He looked at the Prince. "I'm just glad he accepted what I said at face value. "

"Yeah well, I'm just glad he knows that it's not just nukes that can create mushroom clouds!" the Prince responded.

The two men shared a laugh.

The Prince got serious again. "In any case, Halsey's role as oversear of the tests is over. We must look forward to the future."

The Prince looked at the Admiral. "What's the word from the Abyss scientists on the development of the XWF-1A?"

The old Admiral smiled. "They are making great progress, your majesty. In fact the designing is nearly complete. They should be starting construction on the Prototype within the week."

The Prince raised his eyebrows in amazment. "Have they really made that much progress in such a short time?" he said, "When will it be ready?"

The Admiral did not miss a beat. "A month in a half," he replied

There was silence in the room as the Prince took this in.

"A month and a half. So...forty-five days then?" he ventured.

"Give or take a couple days."

The Prince smiled. "Excellent." he stood up and walked to the window that looked out upon the capital city of Yalta.

"Forty-five days. And then the real tests begin." he said with a wicked edge to his voice. "Get those Super Dreadnoughts ready for the tests."

The Admiral bowed. "They will be prepared with great haste, your majesty."

"Very good, Augustine." Prince William smiled. "After all, we can't blow up those monstrousities soon enough!"

The Prince and the Admiral of the Navy started to laugh again.

---------

-The wreckage of the Battleships Mishnah, Chicopee, Scorpius, Talmud, and Almaden were eventually salvaged by crews from Commonalitarianism.
-The modified Pomornik LCACs, although they failed in the testing of their capabilities, were integreted into the Wilhelmsborough navy in their new role as fast-moving gunships.
-The surviving battleships Saros and Brandenburg were sold to the Free Republic of Discordia for $30 Billion. The battleships are extremely undercrewed, as the total number of crewmen required for each ship would be three times more than the population of the entire nation (Population 247). The Free Republic is now reaching out to international community to search for a proper crew for their ships.
-The BGM-1123 Penetrator missiles are currently in their first stages of production. Unfortunately, due to the handware involved, the Penetrator missile will not be used on any fighter craft. Rather it will be used by heavy bombers, naval warships, and combat airships. The military has placed into production ICBM and Cruise missile versions of the weapon.
-The battleship Manchuria, which was heavily damaged in the testing of the XBGM-1123 Penetrator missile and left to burn on the open sea, was not found by any of the Commonalitarianism salvage crews. Nor was it discovered with 100 miles of the test site. As of now, the location of the damaged battleship Manchuria remains a mystery...

A mere curiosity, 10 Pomorniks attacked the battleships, 3 survived, 7 were sunk or destroyed. This leaves 7 wrecks nothing retrievable. Congratulations on excellent gunnery.